Hello everyone! We are currently parked in North Pole, Alaska. It’s a small town near Fairbanks. We crossed into Alaska on Sunday July 9, and reached the end of the Alcan Highway that day also. We spent one night in Tok, Alaska, then drove here to North Pole on Monday July 10. We are staying in the Fairbanks area until early next week, at 2 different RV parks.
I’m happy to report the boarder crossing was uneventful and easy. Before crossing into Alaska, we spent 3 nights at a fantastic RV park, called Yukon Discovery Lodging, located near Beaver Creek, Yukon. We had no cell or internet service there, but it was beautiful and peaceful. The RV park has a fully operational, grassy, airstrip on the property. The airstrip is used for fire fighters and medical emergencies in the area. They were happy to say it had not been used yet this summer. Our campsite was located right on the edge of the airstrip, so we had this very large green area right outside our door. Plus we had mountain views right out our windows. Many of the photos in the link below are from our stay at that RV park. Also, several of the photos taken there are at 11:00 at night…it is definately the land of the “midnight sun”!
Our second half of the Alcan highway drive was fairly uneventful, and very few animals. I think we saw 1 or 2 hawks, 1 eagle and that is about it. Hoping we see more wildlife while in Alaska. There are several pictures in the link from the second half of the drive.
At the risk of sounding like this is a food blog, I have to tell you about some of the food we’ve had recently. While driving from Whitehorse, Yukon to the Yukon Discovery Lodging, we stopped at a great little bakery along the road and purchased 2 fresh fruit tarts. The owners of the bakery were French and we also purchased a loaf of rustic multi-grain bread. Delicious! Then, our first night at the Yukon Discovery Lodging (I’m going to refer to it at YDL from now on), we noticed the owner was delivering freshly made fruit kuchen to the cottage occupants….we asked if we could purchase 2 pieces – it was great! Sorry, I didn’t get a photo of the kuchen, we ate it before I thought of it! We let the owner know how much we enjoyed her kuchen the next morning.
To our surprise, the next afternoon we received a delivery of freshly made, still warm from the oven small round loaves of rustic bread….I had literally just said to Steve, “too bad we didn’t buy more of that rustic bread at the bakery, it would go great with the spaghetti I’m making for dinner”. The words had just left my mouth when Stephan, the cute young man from the Czech Republic working at the YDL knocked on our door with the warm bread! There’s a photo in the link, but only of 1 loaf…we devoured one before I thought to take a picture, sorry! We had a great meal of spaghetti, salad and bread that night.
Stephan was very nice and fun to talk to. He is 29 (and super cute), and has lived and worked in: London and Sydney, Australia and is heading to Ireland when done with his summer job in Beaver Creek, Yukon. He said he was enjoying travel and learning new cultures and not having the pressures of “normal” life.
The next evening, we grilled out beef steaks purchased from the YDL – she had a small quantity of frozen meat from a local farm available for sale. I made red skin potatoes sauteed with carrots and onions, a nice salad and a peach cobbler. We set up dinner right outside our door on the picinic table (photo in the link). We took a drive after dinner to look at the local scenery and returned to find a plate of german chocolate cake on our doorstep! The owner seemed to enjoy sharing her cooking with us as much as we enjoyed eating it! She really was very nice and we enjoyed talking with her.
We had a full day of rain also while staying at the YDL and took advantage of the DVD library. We watched several movies and enjoyed the clouds floating by the mountains right outside our window. This stop is our favorite in the journey so far.
But wait! The food story isn’t over! Today, Steve went to a local gym to workout. He’s been finding local gyms in most places we’ve been. I’m going to do a post with pictures he’s taking of the gyms at some point. Anyhow, while talking to the guy at the front desk at the gym today, Steve discovered he was a local hunting guide. He owns 3 planes and has 2 hunting cabins – one in the Brooks Range and one in the Kenai penninsula. He takes groups hunting and fishing. Most places in Alaska are only accessible by plane or boat. There are very few roads in this state compared to the amount of land. They got to talking about fish (Steve has been on the lookout for local seafood, his favorite food but has not had much luck so far). The guy asked Steve to wait a few minutes, and he left and returned with a bag full of local fish and meats!!! Halibut, salmon, ling, trout. Summer sausage, smoked salmon. Photo in the link. We’ve having Halibut tonight!
Our plan now is to enjoy the Fairbanks area for a few days, then meander our way towards Denali National Park. We cancelled our reservation we had for a campsite inside the park. We discovered Gerry can’t leave the campsite to explore the park or go on any of the hiking trails. So we’re going to stay outside the park and find hikes in the area. We’re also exploring doggy day care so we can do some long hikes inside the park. I’m sure I’ll have a post about all of that when the time comes. So for now, we are going to explore the Christmas shopping in North Pole, Alaska and other area attractions. It’s a rainy, dreary day (again) but that is not unusual for Alaska in July from what I hear.
Today (July 11) is our 30th wedding anniversary. Hard to believe – time goes by so fast. Many of you were there on the big day 30 years ago, and many of you have helped us along the way these many years through your friendship, advice and support. Life has many ups and downs, happy times and hard times. One thing I know for sure is the love and support you all have given us both through the years has made all the difference. Thank you.
More photos at this link: https://1drv.ms/a/s!Ap-2lg-EnL0pjzy-sr4nIRv1oXc3
